And The Wall Came A Tumbling Down

We decided to embark on yet another house project last month.  It all started when we decided to get a new TV.  We had always thought about doing this little project but we didn't know it was going to happen so soon! :)  Anyways, we had been saving some money, and had been wanting to get a new HD TV, and Erik found a really good deal for one online that was the right size and had all the right numbers on what he was looking for etc., so we decided to go for it.  Well the problem with this TV was that it didn't fit in our current TV stand (pictured below on the left side of the picture), so that meant we had to get rid of it.  Then since we were getting rid of the TV stand (which was a concern that we would be able to sell it), we decided that we should then take down the wall separating our living room from the dining room.  We knew it wasn't a support wall because you could tell that it had been added later and it wasn't there when the house was built.  See, the upstairs in our house wasn't part of the original house, it was added later and we think this wall was added when they did that.  You could also see that the moulding by the ceiling went through the wall and the woodwork didn't match the rest of the house either.  The last thing you could see is that the hardwood flooring when right under the wall and didn't stop at the wall.  I was a little nervous about this at first, because I kind of like the idea of defined spaces and I thought taking down the wall would mean we wouldn't have a dining room, but we were going to do it.  So the last weekend of spring break, Erik started taking down the sheet rock off the wall.  The slight problem with us doing this project is that it would require some re-wiring of light switches.  The dining room light switch was on the right side of the wall and the living room light switch was on the left side of the wall.  This is where we called my wonderful Uncle Nick once again to come and help us! :)  So, Erik and Uncle Nick spent the following Saturday re-wiring the two light switches.  It took a little work, as they had to go up in the attic and put a couple holes in the wall, but it was worth it!  The other stipulation with this project was that it had to be done by Kyler's family birthday party (which was on April 9th) and....we made it!  Everything was painted and put back together by that day-and it was great to have everything so open for the party because we had 25 people over! :)  More to come on Kyler's bday in the next post! :)  We also were able to get rid of the entertainment center because my Aunt bought it from us-that worked out great too!  Here are some pictures from the project!    

The "Before" (just ignore all of the toys scattered throughout the house) :)

The sheet rock off of the left side...

Kyler helping out :)

A view from the dining room

Norah helping out :)

Sheet rock all gone, and some studs gone too!

All the studs and sheet rock gone!  Erik and Nick working on re-wiring the switches!

All finished!!  With a new ceiling fan too! :)  And, I do really like the finished product, it makes our living room/dining room area seem SO much bigger!

Two Months Old!

4/5-Our little Norah turned two months old!  She is such a joy to have in our family.  She is pretty laid back and has tolerated her brother's "noseies", high fives, and wanting to hold her very well.  This month she started to smile!  I haven't caught any of her smiles on camera yet, but hopefully that will happen soon.  She loves to give you a big grin especially when you talk to her and she is sitting in your lap or getting her diaper changed.  She has also started cooing this past month.  She will coo or "talk" when she is in her bouncy seat waiving her arms and legs around while she bounces.  Norah can hold her head up really well and hardly needs any help holding it up any more.  The other thing Norah likes to do is try to sit up.  I will come in to the living room where she has been sitting in her swing, and will find her leaning to the side because she has tried to sit up in her swing, it's kind of funny.  We had Norah's two month appointment today and she weighs 11 lbs 11 oz and is 23 inches long-she's a growing girl!  She is in the 50th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference.  Norah eats about every 3 hours during the day and has longer stretches at night-which is great!  Here are some pictures from her last month!

2 Months Old!

Kyler thought she would like to play ball... :)

Getting some love from Kyler :)

Bath time!

The "little sister" hanging out

Meeting Geneva & Henry! (Geneva babysat me when my mom went back to work after I was born)

Our sweet little girl!

First Haircut!

So, I decided a few months ago that Kyler needed a haircut.  He had never had one, and it was starting to look pretty scraggly.  The hair around his ears was getting pretty long and the hair on the back of his neck would catch on the collar of his fleece.  I knew this would be somewhat of a struggle as Kyler doesn't like people doing things to him that he is unfamiliar with.  I also knew that if we took him somewhere to get his haircut he wouldn't like that either because it would be someone he didn't know in a place he'd never been, etc.  So, I thought that I would attempt to cut his hair.  I had cut my brother's hair a few times, Erik's hair a few times, and David's hair a few times.  I decided we would set Kyler on Erik's lap, Erik would hold him and I would just snip his hair with the scissors.  Well, we tried this and I might have gotten one snip in and he was mad-twisting and turning his head everywhere and crying.  So, we ended that haircutting session.  Then I tried to do it one night while he was sitting in the bath-that didn't work either.  I even tried to do it while he was looking out the window one day-that also didn't work.  Erik also tried various times to cut his hair while he was in the bath and he would get a snip or two every night, but he really needed ALL of it cut. :)  So finally Erik thought that if Kyler watched him cut his hair and see that it didn't hurt, he would be okay with that-so that's what we did.  That didn't really help either.  Erik also tried running the clippers through Kyler's hair with them off and letting him play with the clippers for a while and then asking if we could cut his hair....this didn't work either. 

So, finally, we decided we were just going to sit him in his booster seat with some M&Ms and some cookies and cut his hair! :)  And that's just what we did on March 24th! :)  He was not very happy and cried some, but after he realized that it didn't hurt, he started to calm down, he didn't completely stop crying until we were all done, but he did calm down.  And we have told him that we will have to cut his hair again...which we will probably do the exact same way! :)

The "before" picture the day before we cut his hair.

Erik starting to cut...

Not a happy camper!

Still not very happy...

Doing better...

All done!  Looking like a big boy!

A Visit From Great-G'ma & G'pa T

Over Spring Break (yes, I'm a bit behind on my blogging, but with tearing down a wall and a couple birthday celebrations I haven't had time! More on those two things in later posts) :) Erik's grandparents that live in Dows (his mom's parents) came to meet Norah.  They came on Wednesday since the weather was fairly nice and with Spring Break there wasn't a lot going on here.  Erik's mom brought lunch over and Leah came too to hang out for a while. :)  We had a good time and it was good to see them since we hadn't seen them since Christmas.  Here are a couple pictures from the afternoon.

Norah meeting Great-Grandma T.

Four Generations! (Kyler was NOT happy about having his picture taken) :)